Firefighter fights back, With the help of brother firefighter.

• by Mtorch
• 2008-04-05 11:04:56
• General Posting
• 1188 views
• 6 comments

I thought I was invincible, but 4 weeks ago the Department Doctor took me off the engine because I was missing a heart beat, Slow heart rate below 30 BPM, and then it would race to 144 BPM. On a Friday night I got a call, (Friday afternoon 4:30 PM) from my new doctor who said I needed a pacemaker and he would be doing it next Monday. To say the least I had a lot of questions and did not have time to get them answered ,the most important ones would I ever ride an engine again (32 Years on the job and still love it), who was going to pay for it, would I be able to do all the things I was doing before I knew about my condition a on, backpack Be on ski patrol, sail, camp??? Well I asked a one of the guys at work with one and found that he had one but did not have all the same symptoms as I. But he did say it was not a big deal, and that he had the same anxieties as I. The buddy at work told me about the PC Club so I tried it. I listed my questions and had 6 or seven replies ( Thank You, Thank You) all very supportive but not sure about returning to the job. But as it were A fellow Firefighter from Texas with one and some of the same problems as I. He was kind enough to call me and talk for quite a long time and help answer my questions and reassure me. A few days later I was able to talk with the doctor and I asked him if I would be able to work on a engine again. His Answer was "Do you want to"?. I said "of course." He said "do you think you can still do it ?" I said "I was doing it before I knew a little winded and Tired but stile working a busy station with a lot of fire activity." He said "he would let me go back in time". Mean while the workers comp. Doctor said that she did not see any reason why I would not be able to go back to full duty. She put my worker comp claim in, mean while my insurance gave the OK to have the procedure done. After the sugary I got a letter that workers comp. took the case and now it is being worked out through the Insurance companies.
I went in to surgery Monday March24 and got WALKED out of the hospital on Tuesday. Wednesday I went for a 3 to 4 mile walk and have been doing almost every day sense. I am not winded, I thought the reason I was winded was I needed more time on the tread mill. But all i needed was a Pace maker. Now I have tried to pin this missing heart beat on my wife Because she makes my heart skip a beat, ( she does)but the doctor said that is not the case.
Well it is about 2 weeks now and I FEEL Great, on my walks I want to run because the walks don't make me winded but I will ask the doctor on Monday what kind of work out he will let me do. I also lost weight with out much work.
I will check back in later.
Thanks To all of you and I wish you well and thank you again.